We’ve all heard about Yu Darvish and Jesus Montero. Tampa Bay’s Matt Moore burst on the scene with a playoff win last season. Phenoms Bryce Harper and Mike Trout are said to be something special, but both are starting the season in the minors.

Those five rookies will make large impacts this season, but here are four who could also be part of the first-year story.

Devin Mesoraco, C, Cincinnati: The 23-year-old was the 15th overall pick in the 2007 draft and is quite possibly the most famous thing from Punxsutawny, Pa., besides the groundhog. The right-handed batter hit .289/.371/.484 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) last year at Triple-A Louisville, then hit two homers in September after being called up by the Reds. He hit 26 homers in 113 minor-league games in 2010.

Scouts project Mesoraco as an above-average hitter with a chance to provide above-average power at the big-league level. He’s a pull hitter — all 17 of his homers last season were to left field — but does have enough plate coverage to take the ball the other way. He is considered an average receiver with as strong throwing arm, although his percentage of throwing out runners dipped to 26 percent last season after a 41-percent success rate the year before.

Tom Milone, LHP, Oakland: Scouts say there’s nothing special about Milone’s four-pitch arsenal (fastball, breaking ball, cutter, change) but all he does is get hitters out and win. The 24-year-old, drafted out of Southern Cal in the 10th round in 2008, has a minor-league career record of 37-22 with a 3.05 ERA and has struck out hitters at a rate of 8.1 per nine innings.

He has walked just 84 batters in 517 minor-league innings, and last season at Triple-A Syracuse had a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 9.7-to-1. Milone went 1-0 with a 3.81 ERA in five major-league starts for Washington last September, then was one of the key players in the trade for Gio Gonzalez. Milone begins this season as the third starter in the Athletics’ rotation.

Tyler Pastornicky, SS, Atlanta: Drafted in the fifth round by Toronto in 2008, Pastornicky came to Atlanta in the trade that sent Yunel Escobar to the Blue Jays for Alex Gonzalez. Gonzalez never panned out for the Braves, but Pastornicky begins this season as the team’s shortstop.

Jason Getz/Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionTyler Pastornicky will open the season as the Atlanta Braves' starting shortstop.

A career .278/.345/.374 hitter in the minors, the 22-year-old is a line-drive hitter who makes consistent contact. He is an above-average defender who needs to show more consistency with his arm. He likely would have been called up to the major-league club last September had not a high-ankle sprain ended his season early.

Drew Pomeranz, LHP, Colorado: The big (6-foot-5, 230 pounds) 23-year-old was selected in the first round by Cleveland in 2010 out of the University of Mississippi, where he set the school strikeout record and was named the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year. He was the centerpiece in last summer’s trade in which the Rockies sent Ubaldo Jimenez to the Indians. Pomeranz went 4-3 with a 1.78 ERA with 119 strikeouts in 101 innings in his only minor-league season, then went 2-1 in four starts with 13 strikeouts in 18⅓ innings after a September call-up to Colorado.

His fastball is in the 91-95 range and his ability to throw low strikes with the pitch makes him especially effective. His curveball is a tight hammer and a big swing-and-miss pitch for him. He’s worked this spring on improving his changeup, and scouts feel it will become a positive part of his repertoire. He made the Rockies’ rotation as the team’s No. 5 starter, but at some point in his career he projects as a staff ace.

OPENING DAY: Yes, the season officially began last week with the two-game set between Oakland and Seattle in Japan, but 2012 really starts today. There is always something special about Opening Day, where optimism reigns supreme and every team has a chance. Everyone is fresh, and the 26-week, 162-game grind has yet to take its inevitable toll. What does baseball have in store for us this year? No doubt plenty, and we have six wonderful months ahead of us to enjoy it.